Acharya Narendra Dev College
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019
Accredited 'A+' Grade by NAAC
DBT Star Status College
DBT Star Status College
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019
Chief Patron: Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi
Patron: Prof. BalaramPani, Dean of Colleges, University of Delhiand Mr. Anil Kumar Saini, Chairman, Governing Body, Acharya Narendra Dev College
Chairpersons: Prof. Ravi Toteja, Officiating Principal, Acharya Narendra Dev College and Dr Garima Gupta, Scientist F, Departmentof Biotechnology, Govt. of India
Co-chairpersons:Prof. Rup Lal, NASI Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellow The Energy and Resources Institute; Sr. Prof. Suman Lakhanpaul, HOD, Department of Botany, University of Delhi and Prof. Ashutosh Bhardwaj, OSD, Institute of Eminence, University of Delhi
Scientific Chair: Prof. Arijit Chowdhuri, Prof Charu K Gupta and Prof. Seema Makhija
Convenors:Prof. Sunita Hooda, Prof. Sarita Kumar, Dr Sanjeeta Rani, Prof.Geetu Gambhir and DrArchana Pandey
Session Chairs: Sr. Prof. Mridula Gupta, Prof. Rupam Kapoor, Prof. Vishnu Bhat, Prof. R. K. Negi, Prof. Rup Lal, Prof. Shashi Bhushan, Prof. Rina Chakrabarti, Prof. Indranil Dasgupta, Dr Vijay Pal Singh, Prof. Sanjeev Singh, Prof. Alan Warren, Prof. Sukanya Lal, Prof. Prem Lal Uniyal, Dr Renu Bhagat Kumar, Prof. Rajesh Tandon, Prof. Atul Johri, Prof. Sunita Hooda, Prof. Seema Gupta, Dr Sanjeeta Rani, Prof. SharanjitKaur, Dr Anupama Shukla, Prof. Sarita Kumar, Dr Anita Narang,Dr Sunita Jetly, Dr Neeti Mishra, Prof. Arijit Chowdhuri, Prof. Charu K. Gupta, Dr Manisha Verma, Dr V Bhasker Raj, Dr Geetika Kalra, Prof. Gagan Dhawan, Dr Rashmi Sharma, Dr Rahul Dev, Dr Neelakshi N. K. Borah, Dr Siddhartha, Dr SumitSahni, Mr Abhay PratapSingh, Prof. Pankaj Khanna, Dr Harita Ahuja, Prof. Urmi Bajpai, Dr Aparna Sharma, Prof.Geetu Gambhir, Dr Sanjay Kumar, Dr Kavita Mittal, Dr Sandeep Kumar Goel, Dr Mamta Bhatia
Session Co-chairs: Dr Anupama Shukla, Dr Anita Narang, Dr Pooja Bhagat, Dr Manisha Verma, DrArchna Pandey, Dr Rashmi Sharma, Prof. Seema Makhija, Prof. Arijit Chowdhuri, Prof. Charu K. Gupta, Dr Geetika Kalra, Dr Manoj Kumar Singh, Dr Sada Nand Prasad, DrRavneet Kaur, Dr Aparna Sharma, Dr Kavita Mittal, Dr Rahul Dev, Dr Pragati Malik, Ms Bhawna Kaushik, Dr Jitender Goel, Dr Yash Mangla, Prof. Gagan Dhawan, Dr Vineet Kumar Singh, Dr Neelakshi N. K. Borah, Dr Narayan Singh, Dr Anita Thakur, Dr Gurudutt Rao Ambedkar, Dr Sweety Shrimali, Mr Pawan Kumar, Dr Sidhartha, Dr Sanjay Kumar
Organizing Secretaries: Dr Vineet Singh, Dr SumitSahni, Dr V Bhasker Raj, Dr Gurudatt Rao Ambedkar, Dr Narayan Singh
Coordinators: Prof. Gagan Dhawan, Prof. Pankaj Khanna, Dr Manisha Verma, Dr Pooja Bhagat, Dr Anita Narang, Dr Sandeep Kumar Goel, Dr Anupama Shukla, Dr Rashmi Sharma, Dr Sada Nand Prasad, Dr Ravneet Kaur, Dr Harita Ahuja, Mr Pawan Kumar
Program Committee: Dr Yash Mangla, Dr Pragati Malik, Dr Sweety Shrimali, Dr Manoj Kumar Singh, Dr Sanjay Kumar, Dr Jitender Goel, Dr Aparna Sharma, Dr Rahul Dev, Mr Abhay Pratap Singh, Dr Siddhartha, Dr Neelakshi N. K. Borah, Dr Kavita Mittal, Dr Anita Thakur, DrRimpy Kaur Chowhan, DrRitu Khosla, Ms Bhawana Kaushik, Ms Ankita Rasaily
Date: February 22-28,2022
No of Participants: 373
Report:
Acharya Narendra Dev College organized an International E-Conference titled “Mitigating Contemporary Environmental Issues by Sustainable Approaches [ICMCESA-2022]. In commemoration of Science week the event spanned from February 22-28,2022. With consideration of the ongoing “Decade of Action” proclaimed by the United Nations, the main focus of the conference was to generate interest among all on the pressing environmental concerns and the urgent need to adopt sustainable approaches worldwide to protect the habitat. A theme of such pertinence, the speakers and various presenters confronted diverse ‘Areas of Concern’. Adhering to Covid-19 protocols regarding travel restrictions and social distancing, this conference was conducted over the virtual platform, the event hosted speakers from USA, Slovenia, Australia, UK, Uruguay, and Czech Republic, to name a few. Prof. Gaytha A Langlois, with extensive experience in crafting municipal and statewide environmental policies, from the Department of Environmental Policy at Byrant University, Rhode Island, USA, graced the inauguration day as the plenary speaker. She addressed the crises arising from misalignment of policy goals and strategies of navigating environmental challenges in her plenary talk titled, “Syzygy or Sisyphus: The Future of Environmental Policy Making”. There were a total 16 keynote speakers from all over the world who shared their innovative knowledge and application methodology regards to environment in the conference. There were 28 invited talks from all over India and consisted of an inclusive amalgamation of Professors, Academicians, Scientists, Ecologists, and Law Practitioners etc. The scientific advisory board members for the conference were, Professor C. R. Babu (Retd.) Department of Botany, University of Delhi, INDIA; Professor Gaytha L. Langlois, Professor of Environmental Policy, Bryant University, Rhode Island, USA; Dr Alan Warren (Retd.), Natural History Museum, London, UNITED KINGDOM; Professor Rup Lal, FNA, FNASc, FNAAS, NASI Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute, INDIA; Dr J. R. Bhatt Advisor (Climate Change), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, INDIA; Prof.Rupam Kapoor, Department of Botany, University of Delhi, INDIA; Prof.RadheyShyam, Department of Environmental Science, University of Delhi, INDIA; Prof. M. M. Chaturvedi, Department of Zoology, University of Delhi, INDIA; Prof. Amit Singh, Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, INDIA; Prof. Ashutosh Bhardwaj, OSD, Institute of Eminence, University of Delhi, INDIA; Dr Debasish Mohanty, National Institute of Immunology, INDIA; DrGarima Gupta, Scientist F, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, INDIA This e-conference was a unique affair for a varied number of reasons, the themes and scope of the conference covered the following expansive range, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Mitigation by Physical, chemical and biological approaches, Biodiversity conservation and reclamation, Laws and Policies for Environmental protection, GIS mapping and remote sensing for environmental assessment, Environmental toxicology, Sustainable cities and communities, Environmental economics and eco-preneurship, Igniting young minds for environmental sensitization, Data analytics in environment, Green Finance and Environment and Public Health. Apart from the talks by keynote, invited speakers and participants, the conference programme also consisted of Technical sessions for a pragmatic and empirical approach to the theoretical discussions. There were more than 100 oral presentations by undergraduate, postgraduate research scholars and faculty traversing the entire nation from Kashmir to Kerala. There were 51 oral presentations by the faculty and students of ANDC where they got the opportunity to present their work. . The event was successfully culminated, first of its kind to be executed by any college under University of Delhi, with the hope that it will play a pivotal role in inspiring further synergy on a global scale, which is the only feasible way to manage and sustain our environment. The ambitious feat of planning and executing this week long international conference was possible because of the accommodating nature of all involved. Best Oral and Poster presentations were awarded during the valedictory function.
Co-Organizers: PG Department Zoology (Magadh University), Department of Zoology, (University of Delhi), Acharya Narendra Dev College (University of Delhi), Deen Dayal Upadhyay College (University of Delhi), Maitreyi College (University of Delhi), Ramjas College (University of Delhi), Kirori Mal College (University of Delhi), Sri Venkateswara College (University of Delhi), CMP College (Allahabad University) and Phixgen Pvt Ltd.
Co-Patron: Prof. Ravi Toteja (Officiating Principal, Acharya Narendra Dev College)
Organizing Secretary (from ANDC): Prof. Seema Makhija
Organizing Committee Members (from ANDC): Dr Vineet Kumar Singh and Dr Sumit Sahni
Date: November 15-18, 2021
No. of Participants: 250
Report:
In January 2016, the 2030 Goals for Sustainable Development were set by the United Nations to achieve environmental, social and economic development through green methods and clean production technologies. The most important aim of these goals is the fulfilment of basic human needs and wants, as the essential human needs such as food, clothing, shelter and health care are still not available to most people, despite the rapid growth in the world economy. The increase in waste products and depleting natural resources have turned human attention towards efficient green and clear production technologies. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to provide these basic needs for all, through the intelligent use of sustainable science. In this perspective, microorganisms, which are vital for sustaining life on Earth, can play a major role. Keeping in view about the role of microbes in sustainable development, INSCR organized 6th International Conference over the virtual platform. Prof. P. C. Joshi, former Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi and Prof. Balram Pani, Dean of Colleges, University HOD, Zoology, Magadh University, Dr Sanjay Kumar, Director CISR Palampur Himachal Pradesh, Dr Umesh Rai, former Head of Zoology Department, University of Delhi, besides the principals of co-organizing colleges.
The event hosted 30 International and 40 National speakers of international repute. A few of them are: Edward DeLong, University of Hawaii, Honolulu; Prof. Jizhang Zhou, University of Oklahoma, USA; Prof. Kenneth Timis, Germany; Hilary Lapin Schott and Prof. Jack Gilbert, University of California; Daniel Macdonald, University of California; Hock Midt, Netherlands; Hans, Germany. H Reknow, New Zealand's Stephen Craig Carey, America's NASA Program Scientist Mitch Schalte, South Korea's Vipin C Kalia of Konkuk University, Korea's Ganesh de Sartale, Poland's Agnizeka Dybala Defratka, Uruguay's PavloScavone, Prof. Jyoti Prakash Tamang of Sikkim University, INDIA, Prof. Rama Chaudhary of AIIMS Delhi, INDIA. Anushree Malik of IIT Delhi, INDIA and others who enlighten about the role of microbes in sustainable development.
Two Pre conference workshops namely, Art of scientific writing and communication, and Hands on to computational Biology, for (Meta)genomic analysis were also organized for Undergraduate, Postgraduate students and research scholars from November 14-15, 2021. An online Agar Competition was also organized that show active participation from all over the country.
Themes covered in this conference were:
During the conference, undergraduate, postgraduate students, research scholars and faculty members presented their research papers on host microbiota interactions, clinical microbiology and infectious disease, microbes for sustainable agriculture, microbial ecology and biotechnology, microbiology of extreme environment and translation and industrial microbiology under the main themes Microbes in Sustainable Development.
The Conference was a great success with a record total of more than 500 attendees and 138 registered participants. During the conference three parallel sessions were conducted to accommodate 80 poster and more than 70 oral presentations by students and faculty across the globe. The conference concluded with a valedictory session, in which the participants were acknowledged, winners for poster and oral presentations were announced, winners for Agar Art competition were announced and INSCR Journal was released. The chief guest for the valedictory session was Dr Paola Scavone and the Guest of Honor was Prof. BalaramPani, Dean of Colleges, University of Delhi.
We at Acharya Narendra Dev College strongly believe that class room teaching should be supplemented with hands on training and seminars, symposiums and conclaves. Keeping this trend alive College had organized several National and International level Symosium and Conclave.
International Symposium on Ciliate Biology 2018 (ISCB 2018)
April 4-6, 2018
Joint Secretaries: Dr. Seema Makhija and Dr Ravi Toteja
The International Symposium on Ciliate Biology 2018 (ISCB 2018), co-organized by Acharya Narendra Dev College, Maitreyi College and SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, was held on April 4-6, 2018 at India Habitat Centre.The symposium was conducted in partnership with International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates (IRCN-BC), an affiliate society of International Society of Protistologists (ISOP).
Dr. Mahesh Sharma, MoS, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, graced the inaugural and Professor Chandrima Shaha, Vice President (Foreign Affairs), Indian Academy of Sciences was the chief guest at the Valedictory.
A large contingent of national ciliate biologists was joined by 9 overseas scientists to deliver 20 oral and 57 poster presentations. The specializations varied from biodiversity to ecology, evolution, role of ciliates in the food web of soil and water, their role as bio-indicators of pollution and in bioremediation among other fields. Use of ciliates as excellent eukaryotic unicellular model systems in science teaching and research was well brought out by all presenters.A large participation of under-graduate students was a highlight of the symposium. Their enthusiasm in presenting their work and interactions with senior scientists won everyone’s heart.Zoological survey of India (ZSI) came a big way as not only print partners but also in co-organizing a workshop “Tools and Techniques used in Ciliate Studies” which was very enthusiastically attended by over 50 participants.
The symposium was financially supported by international agencies – ISOP and IUBS – and by several national governmental agencies including INSA, DBT, DST-SERB, CSIR,ICMR, DRDO, ZSI.
OPEN – 2011: International Conference on OPEN PARADIGMS IN EDUCATION – OPEN 2011
January 31 – February 2, 2011
With the primary focus on generating interest and creating awareness about the availability of OPEN source resources for expanding the foundations of education amongst academia, Acharya Narendra Dev College organized an International Conference ' Open paradigms in Education – OPEN 2011' at India International Centre, New Delhi from January 31 to February 2, 2011. It was an attempt to blend open source soft skills with knowledge modules with the idea to expose educators to the importance of open access to learning opportunities by sharing knowledge and learning resources.
The conference was in line with the initiatives taken by Government of India to promote open educational resources that are freely available and those that invite educationists in the country to use, reuse, adapt and share their collective wisdom for the benefit of every learner. Various portals have been created for providing unique opportunities to educators to access and share educational materials through collaborative work and projects.
The conference had seven sessions based on different themes; Authoring Tools, Empowering Teachers, Open Education and Licensing, Skill Development and FOSS, Content Creation and Consolidation, Success Stories and Future Aspects. Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, one of the world's leading advocates and experts on Open and Distance Learning who has been actively involved in the creation of Distance education Institution across the Anglophone world was invited from Malaysia as the Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker of the conference.
The speakers from diverse fields delivered the talk during the conference and mesmerized the gathering with their thoughts and views. These included two more International speakers from Commonwealth Asian Countries; Mr. Chamindra De Silva from Sri Lanka and Mr. Colin Charles, a Linux enthusiast from Malaysia. Other speakers included Professor C. N. Krishnan (NRCFOSS, Anna University); Dr. Savithri Singh (Principal ANDC and Vice-Chair, Wikieducator Community Council); Mr. Subhash Kumar (Faculty ANDC); Dr. Neeti Misra (Faculty ANDC); Mr. Ravi Kant Sharma (CSDS, Sarai, Delhi); Mr. Pavan Duggal (Advocate, Supreme Court); Ms. Anadana Kapur, (Media Practitioner and expert on Copyrights), Mr. Abhishek Nandakumar (student, UDSC; used Drupal for development of ANDC Website); Dr. Sanjeev Singh (Faculty, IIC, UDSC); Dr. Dinesh Abrol (Scientist, NISTADS); Professor Kannan Moudgalya (Spoken Tutorials, IIT Mumbai); Dr. Andrew Lynn (OSDD project, faculty, JNU); Mr. Pranesh Prakash (Lawyer, CIS, Bengaluru); Dr. Ravi Toteja (Faculty, ANDC); Dr. Sarita Kumar (Faculty ANDC); Mr. Chidambaram Kollengode (Nokia, Bengaluru)and Professor KR Srivathsan (PVC, IGNOU).
The conference was attended by 91 participants – teachers, students and other academicians – from various Institutions and Colleges of the University of Delhi. The participants interacted with the speakers with great enthusiasm sharing their views and vision not only during and after the talks but also in the networking breaks. Huge amount of information was shared between the esteemed speakers and the delegates. The conference was a great success and the college aims to organize a number of more such conferences in future.
Mini Symposium on International Women’s Day
March 8, 2019
Coordinators: Dr Ravi Toteja,
Dr Seema Makhija
College organized a "Mini Symposium on International Women’s Day" on March 8, 2019 in Collaboration with CSIR for raising awareness and highlighting women’s achievements.
Education Conclave “Education Deconstructed: Dialogues with Experts
November 2, 2018
Coordinator: Dr. Ravi Toteja
The College organized an Education Conclave “Education Deconstructed: Dialogue with Experts” on Friday November 2, 2018 in its premises.
The scope of the conclave was to deliberate among academics and academic administrators the new initiatives with education and pedagogy which ANDC has adopted. The conclave was attended by a educationists, scientists, researchers and policy makers.
Professor Bhusan Patwardhan, Vice-chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) was the Chief Guest. He delivered the inaugural address. This was followed by two interactive sessions where the participants deliberated on the contemporary challenges in undergraduate education in India, while keeping in context the initiatives at ANDC. Participants also visited various research laboratories and other facilities available to students in the college.
National Symposium on Contemporary Environmental Concerns-2018
March 15-17, 2018
Organizing Team: Dr. Gagan Dhawan, Dr. Charu Khosla Gupta (Botany), Dr. Seema Gupta, Dr. Pooja Bhagat and Dr. Arijit Chowdhuri
Three day National Symposium on “Contemporary Environmental Concerns 2018” involving Awareness, Assessment, Mitigation, Public health and Socio-cultural aspects was organized from March 15-17, 2018. More than 100 participants from different institutes viz., students, teachers, research scholars attended the symposium. The experts from various fields concerning environmental concerns shared their experience from real cases. The students and research scholars also gave oral and poster presentations during the symposium.
Keynote address was delivered by Dr. B.C Sabata, Sr. Scientific Officer, Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi on “Youth and Environment”.
The Guest speakers for the symposium were:Dr. R. Gopichandran, Director,Vigyan Prasar, New Delhi, Mr. Ananda Banerjee, Senior Journalist, Livemint, Dr. Govind Singh Assistant Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, Dr Vijay Dhasmana, Ecologist and Conservationist, Mr. Augustine Veliath, Founder-Director, Asian Center for Entertainment Education , Ms. Lydia Powell, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation and Dr. Praveen Saxena (Ex-advisor to Ministry of MNRE) CEO, Skill Council for green jobs
Innovation Conclave
October 25-26, 2016
Convenor: Dr. Arijit Chowdhuri
The college organized a two day Innovation Conclave (October 25-26, 2016) that offered a platform to the undergraduate student fraternity in the University of Delhi to showcase their research work.
The conclave proffered the students ample scope for interactive discussion on myriads of issues besides talks by distinguished scientists on frontier areas of Science and exposure to cutting-edge technology.
Some of the eminent luminaries that the College hosted over the two-day extravaganza included Professor J. P. Khurana (Pro- Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi), Professor K. Muralidhar (South Asian University), Professor Patrick Dasgupta, (Department of Physics, DU), Professor H. Bohidar (School of Nanoscience, JNU), Professor Ayub Khan (Department of Mathematics, JMI), Dr. Pramod Upadhyay (NII) and Dr. Kavita Mehra (Advisor, NAM S&T Centre). The Innovation Conclave saw 66 competitive poster presentations by undergraduate students from 15 different colleges of the University of Delhi. The contributions (39 from Physical Sciences and 27 from Life Sciences category) also had faculty from the parent Departments of Electronics, Botany, Environmental Science and Ambedkar Centre of Biomedical Research as co-authors pointing to the deep engagement of the students with research. Overall, the Conclave had the undergraduate students’ understanding that research was definitely a viable career option and a panacea to the ills plaguing the country in general.
National Conference On Redefining Science Teaching: Future of Education
March 7-9, 2013
Organizers: Dr Savithri Singh, Dr Sarita Kumar, Dr Seema Gupta, Dr Pooja Bhagat and Dr Ravi Toteja
The college organized a 3-day National Conference on ‘Redefining Science Teaching: Future of Education’ at University of Delhi, South Campus from March 7-9, 2013. During the conference, students from various colleges of University of Delhi presented their work through oral and poster presentations. A total of 13 Institutions participated in the conference. ort 2017
Chemistry in Biology: The Future of Life Sciences
February 12-13, 2010
Conference Secretary: Dr Gagan Dhawan
Chemical biology has become the new buzz word in the field of organic chemistry and life sciences, describing a new era in the progressive integration and the interplay between the two disciplines. To understand any biological phenomenon it is imperative to know the chemical molecules and their reactions. Further, chemistry may provide the basis for the understanding of many unexplained biological phenomena in the nature.
Keeping this in view, it becomes important that undergraduate students, who are our future researchers, understand biology and chemistry as integrated subjects, even though they are taught as distinct disciplines.
This symposium was focused on the application of chemistry for addressing present day problems of biology. It featured interesting deliberations and interactive sessions by eminent scientists in diverse fields such as Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Nano Medicines and Nano devices, Green Chemistry and Clean technology followed by panel discussion on teaching science.
The primary objective of the symposium is to provide exposure and opportunities to teachers, Undergraduate & Post graduate students and Researchers across the country to interact with some the best scientists in the field and to give a comprehensive view of the multiple facets of these disciplines.
Special Invited talks by Professor B. Jayaram (IIT Delhi), Dr. Amit Sharma (ICGEB), Dr. Amulya Panda (NII), Dr. K. C. Gupta (IITR, Lucknow),Professor Hans-Uwe Dahms (South Korea), Dr. Rita Kumar and Dr. V. C. Kalia (both IGIB) and Professor R.K. Saxena ( University of Delhi, South Campus) were inspirational and led to very good interactive question and answer sessions.
There was also a Panel Discussion on “Teaching of Science” by Dr Vasudha Kamat (NCERT) and Dr. R Sreedher (CEMCA) emphasized the importance of integration of ICT tools in education. The other panelists Professor Amitabha Mukherjee, Professor K. Muralidhar and Dr. Savithri Singh discussed various aspects of classroom teaching of Science in the University and schools.
The symposium was unique in that there were two sessions exclusively for student presentations. These sessions provided space to students for good interactions with eminent scientists. The best oral and two best poster presentations were given “Young Chemical Biologist” awards. The symposium had over 158 participants including 70 students. Initiative such as this is sure to provide a significant boost to creating interest amongst students to choose science as a viable career option and also open-up vistas for them to work with scientists in national laboratories.
Biotechnology: Expanding Horizons
October 17-18, 2003
Conference Secretaries: Dr Gagan Dhawan and Dr Monisha Khanna
Despite accomplishments, there are challenges to be met and possibilities to be explored. It is biotechnology that shall continue to show us the way to reach our ultimate goal of the world with total food sufficiency, world whose people do not suffer from scourge of infectious and genetic diseases and a healthy environment, clean and green! Biotechnology is the new revolution around the corner. Keeping in view its importance, The College organized a two days national symposium. The primary objective was to provide a forum to teachers of undergraduate courses of various universities to interact with the distinguished scientists working in the area of biotechnology. The structure of the symposia was so designed so as to give a comprehensive overview of this multifaceted discipline.
The symposium was inaugurated by the then Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi, Professor Deepak Nayar. Key note address was delivered by Dr. (Mrs.) Manju Sharma, the then secretary of Department of Biotechnology. In her address she laid emphasis on the benefits and risks of biotechnology in our daily life.
Biotechnology has found its uses in all spheres of life the most prominently in Medical, Industry, Agriculture and Environment. Keeping this in mind various sessions were designed in such a manner so that all these spheres are covered. Professor Rakesh Bhatnagar (JNU) and Dr. Balaji Prakash (IIT Kanpur) talked on medical biotechnology, whereas Dr. Rama Mukherjee from Dabur Research Institute and Dr. M.K. Sahib of Wokhardt talked on uses of biotechnology in Industry. The applications of biotechnology in agriculture was discussed by Professor Deepak Pental (University of Delhi) and Dr. Shiva Reddy from ICGEB. Concerns about Environmental Biotechnology were addressed by Professor Pardha Sardhi from University of Delhi and Dr. Raj Bhatnagar from ICGEB.
Bioinformatics is the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge to form a single discipline. The ultimate goal of the field is to enable the discovery of new biological insights as well as to create a global perspective from which unifying principles in biology can be discerned. One complete session was devoted to the bioinformatics. The speakers of the session were Dr. Alok Bhattacharya (JNU) and Dr. C.B. Rao (IGIB).
In WTO regime, competition has become more intense than ever before. Indian industry is already facing the challenge of globalization. The most important way to face this challenge is through economic efficiency and technology up gradation. The most important source of technology lies in patents, which is an important component of intellectual Property on which all governments give monopoly rights to encourage scientific and technological inventions. This was echoed by of Dr. Malti Lakshmikumaran (TERI).
In the panel discussion, Biotechnology and Society: Ethics of it All, Professor R.N.K. Bameezai (JNU), Dr. A.K. Bansal (IARI) , Dr. Subhash Chand (IIT, Delhi), Dr. M.K.Sahib (Wokhardt) and Ms. Sandhya Tewari (CII) expressed their thoughts on uses of biotechnology.